Mending Little Hearts Fund Logo Approved Today!

A very exciting day for Saskatchewan Pediatric Cardiology! The logo for the Mending Little Hearts Fund of Saskatchewan designed by Giles Woodward and his team from Two Six Creative and Studio Woodward was approved today! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for donating your time and the logo design to Pediatric Cardiology!

The Mending Little Hearts Fund of Saskatchewan was recently created because of the need to support the families who have children with congenital heart disease. This fund is overseen by the pediatric cardiology department based at the Royal University Hospital and they provide care to children all across Saskatchewan. This department currently has over two thousand patient visits a year and is operating under-resourced in comparison to all other pediatric cardiology programs across Western Canada. This fund helps support families right here in Saskatchewan.

As a parent of a four-year-old boy that had open heart surgery February 10th 2016, I am proud to be a part of this project and to work with Giles on it. Many of us see the need and demand for the Mending Little Hearts Fund of Saskatchewan. William’s surgery was in Edmonton but all appointments prior to and following the surgery are in Saskatoon. You can read more on my blog about our journey.

When you make a donation to the Mending Little Hearts Fund of Saskatchewan, you would be providing funds to support the following identified needs:

-IPADS and toys for each room to help keep the children happy and distracted while all their tests are being done, this can take up to a couple hours. This is so important because when William had the first ultrasound of his heart, he was scared and got really upset. He then would not stay still and needed to be sedated. If there were toys and other items that could be used to distract him that would have been helpful and maybe he would have not needed to be sedated. We then had to watch him through the night and wake him every hour so that he didn’t sleep to deeply. He got really sick and was out of sorts for 24 hours after being sedated.

– Help fund the CHAMPS camp held in Saskatoon for children ages 7-15 years old from all over Saskatchewan with congenital heart defects. It is so important that children are able to socialize with other kids who have been through the same or similar experiences as them. The camp provides education about nutrition and physical activity for children with heart conditions.

-Blankets and Blanket Warmers- Children, especially infants can get cold during tests and this would help to keep them warm and more comfortable.

-Family Travel Expenses- It cost our family over $5000.00 to go to Edmonton for William’s open heart surgery and that amount doesn’t take into account loss of pay for taking time off for his recovery, holding his daycare spot, counselling appointment costs for PTSD, etc. For many families, the cost of having a child with a heart problem is significant and can affect the whole family for many years.

-Phone Cards- These are so parents and caregivers can connect with family and friends for support when they have to travel elsewhere for their child’s surgery or are at appointments and do not have a cellphone

-Travel costs to get to appointments- Some families can not afford to pay for cabs or public transit to get to appointments

These are just a few examples of how your donations will have a tremendous impact on children and families going through significant struggles coping with their child’s heart condition.